ABSTRACT
The shock, grief, and rage that Americans experienced in response to 9/11 fueled a desire for revenge against al Qaeda, the Taliban, Osama bin Laden, and even Saddam Hussein. With this feeling came an embrace of violence. Gun sales spiked, immigrants came under attack by homegrown “vigilantes,” and the general public supported war. These traits lasted for more than a year, and vestiges still remain. 1 Meanwhile, audiences flocked to superhero films, often adapted from popular comic books created during the “golden age” of comic-book heroes in the 1940s and 1950s. Why the sudden popularity of superheroes, and how did these superheroes change after the terrorist attacks?
